Calling All Sistahs

Thank you so much for coming for my 2nd day of super important posts.

Calling All Sistahs!

Cancer 

is not contagious.

but 

you can catch it

 through early detection.

I did.

***Just 2 months ago today***

Let me tell you how I caught it.

Here in Colorado, 

our channel 9 News has an 

early breast cancer detection program called 

Buddy Check 9.

The idea is to remind you, and for you to remind your buddies, to do your self checks on the 9th of each month.

*This is the part where I become quite emotional because this is so meaningful to me, 

so just know that I'll be crying through most of the rest of this post as I write it*

August 9th was my youngest son's 14th birthday 

so I was BUSY that day.

I didn't do my Buddy Check 9 self check, I didn't even think to do it, I was in birthday mode and it wasn't even remotely on my mind.

I don't know why it suddenly popped into my mind on August 17th 

but it did.

***thankfully*** 

The awareness that 9 News has created made a difference

for me

because I'd heard it every month for the last 8 years,

 because it made me remember!

I realized I had forgotten Buddy Check 9 so I did my check on that August 17th morning 

and I found a lump.

It's SUPER important to note that MOST lumps turn out to be NOTHING 

but mine wasn't nothing.

You can read all about that portion of my story HERE

if you missed it yesterday.

Catching cancer in its early stages is critical.

It saves lives.

It preserves choices.

It makes it curable!

I don't necessarily believe that things happen for a reason because to me, that somehow leaves too much room to think that bad things might be deserved or allowed to define you. 

I DO believe that it doesn't matter what happens in life, 

But what absolutely DOES matter is how you choose to handle it. 

I got breast cancer. 

*I don't deserve it*

But I get to CHOOSE how to handle this.

I'm choosing to treat it as a blessing. 

I have to deal with this so I want to do it well.

I've had to learn a lot very quickly so I could make smart decisions about how I want to be cured.

Did you hear what I said??

I Got To Decide How I Want To Be Cured!

How awesome is that?!

That my friends is a blessing!

I'm choosing to share my story to make a positive difference.

This isn't about getting attention for me. 

This is about getting attention for Breast Cancer Awareness beyond just the month of October.

This is about generating that absolutely necessary awareness that needs to exist every single month,

the same kind of awareness that allowed me to find my cancer early...to save my life.

I want this for you, and your friends and loved ones, and their friends and loved ones and so on!

1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in her lifetime...

*she deserves the chance to choose how she will be cured*

Unless you live in Colorado, you don't have access to my 9 News and its Buddy Check 9, 

a program I will forever be grateful for.

It made a difference in my life, in my treatment choices, and I want to pay that forward.

I'm starting a monthly blog series called

Calling All Sistahs!

We need to spread the word that early detection of breast cancer saves lives.

Your yearly mammogram is certainly a very important detection tool, 

but so much can happen in between so every. month. counts.

Monthly self breast exams help make early detection possible.

2 months ago, on August 17th 2015, I became 1 in 8.

In the spirit of the buddy system,

each month I will remind you

to check yourself

on the 17th.

This comes from my most grateful heart.

Most of us have never met but

YOU all matter to me!

I want YOU to be safe.

I want YOU to have choices.

I want YOU to know that cancer is not contagious 

but YOU can catch it...early!

And if YOU do...YOU my sistah will be ok!

***Calling All Sistahs! This is your reminder...

YOU better check yourself***

*****Now please tell YOUR sistahs to do it too!*****

It's that easy.

 Please place this graphic on your blog sidebar

or your facebook page 

or tweet it 

or pin it

or whatever you need to do

 to share

so all of your sistah's can see it.

Please link it back to this post 

so all of your sistahs can be part of it. 

Here is the link to this post:

http://cas-ualfridaysstamps.blogspot.com/2015/10/calling-all-sistahs.html

Then join me here on the 17th of each month.

It's a serious subject but I want it to be easy, inspiring, uplifting.

  We will have some fun too :)

7 out of 8 women have nothing to worry about. 

*****But what about that 1?*****

She doesn't even know it yet.

She needs to be ok.

She is our sistah.

XOXO

Michele